Easter Worship Service

Easter Worship Service will begin at

11:00 AM on Sunday, April 4th, 2010.

Join us! He is Risen!

~SHARE THE JOY OF LIFE IN CHRIST~

Easter Sunrise Service

Sunrise service will at 7:00 AM,

Sunday, April 4th, 2010

and will be followed by breakfast in the fellowship hall.

Good Friday Service April 2, 2010 @ 7:00 PM

Good Friday worship service

will be at 7:00 PM tonight in the sanctuary.

Hope to see you there.

Confirmation schedule

Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ!

 

The youth in our confirmation class are working on their statements of faith, a one page statement that they will share with the Session during the SS time on Sunday, April 11. 

 

Also, on April 11, the confirmation class will share in leading worship.  The Rev. Linda Burger will preach and lead some of the prayers, and the youth will lead other parts of the service.  That makes it very important for the youth to be here next Wednesday, April 7th, to prepare for leading worship the following Sunday.

 

On Sunday, April 18th, the youth will be presented to the congregation.  We will celebrate their confirmation in worship.

 

The spaghetti luncheon has been moved back one week to April 25th.  This luncheon is a fund raise for the youth mission trip to Tennessee in June.

 

I hope you and your family are well!

 

Spike

Easter sermon lessons, And So it Begins...

Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ!

 

Below you will find the lessons (biblical texts for the sermon in the 11:00 AM service this Sunday).  I invite you to not only read these passages and consider the questions below, but also to share in our worship services on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday (both at 7:00 PM).  By hearing the parts of the story in Luke's Gospel that lead up to the first Easter, we can better appreciate the significance of the events of that morning for our lives and for the world.

 

Isaiah 65:17-25

• Does this passage encourage you or offer you hope?  Why (why not)?
• Have you ever experienced anything like the images in verse 25? 

Luke 24:1-12

• When you life gets hectic & crazy and your feel disoriented, how do you usually respond?  Do you stick to your practices and the things in life that are familiar, or do you just feel like collapsing (emotionally and spiritually, as well as physically)?
• Why did the women in this text wait until the first day of the week to go to Jesus' tomb?  (see Luke 11:56)
• Why did they go to Jesus' tomb?  What did they discover when they arrived?
• Who are the two men who greeted them?  Does Luke's description of their clothes remind you of another story in Luke?  (think Luke 9:28-36, also where Jesus speaks with Moses & Elijah about the Exodus (Greek word is Exodon) that he will accomplish in Jerusalem. 
• What did these men say to the women?  Whose words did they quote?  (Do you remember 9:51, when "Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem"?  The act of setting one's face is to take on the role of prophet (see examples of this in Jeremiah).
• What did the women do next? 
• How did the male apostles respond to the news?  ("Idle tale" is a understated way of translating the Greek word Luke uses!  If you have other translations of the Bible, check to see if other translations of this word are different from the RSV, which is our per Bible) 
• Where were the women when Jesus was crucified?  Where were the men (male apostles) when Jesus was crucified?
• Do you think this (verse 12) is a strange way to end the first Easter Sunday?  Do you know people who think the Gospel of Jesus Christ is "an idle tale"?  Why do you think they believe that? 
• What do you believe is the significance of Jesus' resurrection for your life?  ...for the world? 

In the coming weeks, we will continue to the story as Jesus is present with his followers, gathering and preparing his church for mission. 

 

Share the Joy:  Christ is Risen!

Spike

Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, 7 PM

Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ!

 

Just a reminder that our Maundy Thursday and Good Friday worship services will be at 7:00 PM both nights in the sanctuary. 

 

Sunrise service will at 7:00 AM, and will be followed by breakfast in the fellowship hall.

 

The choir has once again prepared incredible services of worship to help us share and even find out place in Jesus' story as his mission continues today.

 

See you Thursday and Friday at 7:00!

 

Spike

Parable of the Running Father, Sermon this Sunday

Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ!  I hope you and your family are well, and are enjoying the beautiful weather we're having so far this week.

 

Here is info for worship this coming Sunday, March 14:

Sermon title:  The Running Father

Old Testament Lesson:  Psalm 23

New Testament Lesson:  Luke 15:1-2, 11-24

 

In his book Finding the Lost: Cultural Keys to Luke 15, Dr. Kenneth Bailey provides an outline of this parable.  As we pray and prepare for worship this Sunday, I thought it might be helpful to share this with you. 

 

A:  Death (verses 11-12)

    B:  All is Lost (verses 13-14)

        C:  Rejection   (verses 15-16)

            D:  The Problem?  (verse 17)

            D':  The Solution?  (verses 18-20a)

        C':  Acceptance  (verse 20b)

    B':  All Is Restored  (verses 21-22)

D':  Resurrection  (verses 23-24)

 

As Dr. Bailey notes in his book, in such passages that use this type of literary structure (inverted parallelism), the key to understanding the passage is in what he lables in this one as C'.  In this case, in these verses the Father runs to his son.  I encourage you to read these verses and to perhaps make notes that help you felsh out Dr. Bailey's outline of this passage to help you see the flow.  As we do, also considering the cultural context in which shame and honor are so very important, we will see how radical and startling the Father's action is in this story. 

 

Here are some questions you might want to consider as well:

1. Why does Dr. Bailey say that what the son demands of his father is tantamount to death? 
2. Based on what you know about Jews (especially their feeling towards pigs!), what would does it say about the son's condition that he is now envious of pigs who have more to eat than he does?
3. What might have happened to the son had the father not run to him?
4. What might have been some of the consequences for the father for running to his son?
5. How does the father demonstrate his acceptance of his son?  
6. How do we know taht we are accepted by God? 
7. Remember, Jesus tells this parable as he was making his way toward Jerusalem to accomplish his "exodus" (Luke 9:31)..  In what ways does this story help us understand what Jesus did for us on the cross?
8. Does this parable help you to better appreciate what God has done for us in Jesus Christ? 
9. How can we live more out of gratitude to God in our daily living, as opposed to "murmuring" like the Pharisees and scribes (verse 2)? 

Again, thank you all for your continued prayers for my family, especially my brother Joneathan.  I'll share reports as often as I am able while in Raleigh. 

 

See you Sunday!

Spike